Towards dynamic knowledge management in technology-based SMEs

Abstract

Small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) have an important role in net job creation in modern society. A cohort within SME sphere, technology-based companies, are special in their potential to employ, grow fast and internationalize. Simultaneously, those companies experience volatility in technology, markets and competition that exposes to the risk of devaluation of the knowledge they possess. Since the knowledge can be defined as an organization’s ability to act efficiently in its environment, capabilities in managing knowledge are vital for SMEs’ survival and growth. Various frameworks and models have been presented by the research community to depict the construct of knowledge management (KM). Mainstream of research has derived KM models from large corporations and thus focused on applicability in those contexts. These models have a limited applicability in resource-constrained SME context. To focus even further, KM frameworks for technology-based SMEs have been scarce. The existing KM frameworks developed have not embedded timemoderated dynamics, i.e. the evolution of knowledge and its management over time. In addition, the dynamics between knowledge stakeholders needs to be connected into the frameworks for research and practice. This study aims via multimethod approach at shedding light on how a framework of dynamic knowledge management could be constructed to enlarge the knowledge on the subject area for both research and practice. The findings indicate how the contents and actions in knowledge management in technology-based SMEs change over altering states of development. The work summarizes these findings by proposing an integrative framework for dynamic knowledge management and proposes hypothetical practical instantiations of the framework. The frameworks created should be seen as early steps in creating new knowledge in an understudied field. For the practitioner community the thesis aims at helping to identify the state of development of the assets in technology business SMEs’ knowledge portfolios and to choose approaches and actions that allow them to create, protect, disseminate and exploit knowledge more efficiently. Keywords: knowledge, management, change, growth, dynamic